Hope and Other Luxuries: A Mother's Life with a Daughter's Anorexia


Clare B. Dunkle - 2015
    But it's when you let down your guard that the ax falls. Just after one daughter successfully conquered her depression, another daughter developed a life-threatening eating disorder. Co-published with Elena Vanishing, the memoir of her daughter, this is the story—told in brave, beautifully written, and unflinchingly honest prose—of one family's fight against a deadly disease, from an often ignored but important perspective: the mother of the anorexic.

Seconds to Snap: One Explosive Day. A Family Destroyed. My Descent into Anorexia.


Tina McGuff - 2015
    In those few, short seconds, a black hole opened up in my life and I fell right in." Tina McGuff’s life was perfect – or so she thought. Living in Dundee with her devoted parents and three younger sisters, she was a happy, healthy, and confident 13-year-old. But all that changed in one horrifying act of revenge, and Tina’s world collapsed overnight. Terrified, lost, and confused, she turned to the one thing she thought she could control—food. And so began the biggest fight of her life. Tina’s life-or-death struggle with anorexia is told with devastating honesty in this extraordinary account of a girl at war with herself. Through her years in and out of psychiatric wards, Tina takes us to some of the darkest places of the mind. But in the end her courage, conviction, and sheer determination win out. It took Tina seconds to snap and a lifetime to recover—but today, as a passionate campaigner for mental health, she is living proof that there is always a reason to hope that one day, things will get better.

Decoding Anorexia: How Breakthroughs in Science Offer Hope for Eating Disorders


Carrie Arnold - 2012
    Its clear, user-friendly descriptions of the genetics and neuroscience behind the disorder is paired with first person descriptions and personal narratives of what biological differences mean to sufferers. Author Carrie Arnold, a trained scientist, science writer, and past sufferer of anorexia, speaks with clinicians, researchers, parents, other family members, and sufferers about the factors that make one vulnerable to anorexia, the neurochemistry behind the call of starvation, and why it's so hard to leave anorexia behind. She also addresses: - How environment is still important and influences behaviors- The characteristics of people at high risk for developing anorexia nervosa- Why anorexics find starvation "rewarding"- Why denial is such a salient feature, and how sufferers can overcome itCarrie also includes interviews with key figures in the field who explain their work and how it contributes to our understanding of anorexia. Long thought to be a psychosocial disease of fickle teens, this book alters the way anorexia is understood and treated and gives patients, their doctors, and their family members hope.

I Blame the Hormones: A Raw and Honest Account of One Woman's Fight Against Depression (HarperTrue Life - A Short Read)


Caroline Church - 2014
    Yet through exploring the correlation between her depressive episodes and the basic elements of female nature, over many years she discovered that what she thought was a mental disorder was actually due to a hormonal imbalance. And the best bit? She learnt what she could do and take to control it.Shocking, vivid, and a must read for women, their partners and healthcare professionals alike, I Blame the Hormones is the uplifting memoir of Caroline’s journey to pull herself through despite all the odds.

Your Thoughts are Killing You: Take Control of Your Mind and Close the Door to Those Negative, Depressing, Fearful, Worrisome Thoughts Forever


Marybeth Wuenschel - 2019
    Just because a thought comes into your head doesn’t mean it's yours; it doesn't mean you have to think about it or entertain it. God apprehended me when I was 29 years old. I pray as you read this book you too will have a personal encounter with Almighty God who stands at the door of your heart and knocks.Mark 11:22-25 Jesus said to them in reply, “Have faith in God.  Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.”What mountain is threatening you? It’s time to talk to your mountains. We talk to ourselves and each other about our problems all day long, when we should be talking to our problems. Jesus said, “Say to this mountain.” He has given us authority and power over fear, worry and every negative stronghold oppressing us. God has already made the way for you and for me through Jesus Christ to confront every obstacle in the way of our peace and joy. We just have to realize that it is ours. Because Jesus is our rock, there is nothing we cannot overcome and conquer.Get ready to learn some eye-opening truths. Jesus died so we could live, not just survive, but live an abundant, fulfilling and productive life. It’s time for us to take back what the enemy has stolen from us. The Bible says that we have been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of his beloved Son and from this day forward let's plan to live like it.

Needing to Know for Sure: A CBT-Based Guide to Overcoming Compulsive Checking and Reassurance Seeking


Martin N. Seif - 2019
    The good news is that you can break free from this “reassurance trap”—this book will show you how.In this unique guide, you’ll find proven-effective tips and tools using CBT to help you tolerate uncertainty, face specific worrying scenarios, and gradually reduce the compulsion to incessantly seek reassurance. Most importantly, you’ll learn to deal with those pesky “doubt attacks” and trust your own judgment.Asking for reassurance is a self-reinforcing behavior—if you do it, you’re less likely to handle stressful situations without needing further reassurance. And so the cycle continues. The CBT skills in this book will help you break this exhausting and painful pattern, so you can build self-confidence and improve your life.

Leaving Jetty Road


Rebecca Burton - 2004
    This year, their last year of high school, none of them foresees the changes that will occur in their lives.This is the year that Nat—the go-between, the peacemaker—gets a job and meets a drop-dead gorgeous chef named Josh.This is the year that Lise—quiet, shy, and solitary Lise—decides to take control of her life by taking control of her weight.This is the year that Sofia—the ultimate guy magnet—gets her nose pierced and falls seriously in love for the first time in her life.This is the year that will change each of them forever.

Something Spectacular: The True Story of One Rockette's Battle with Bulimia


Greta Gleissner - 2012
    Then she became one—and she fell into the grips of a powerful eating disorder that began poison her life from the inside out.Something Spectacular is Gleissner’s raw, personal chronicle of the devastating effects bulimia exacts upon her life during her time as a Rockette. As her disorder takes over, she begins to lead a dual life: happy-go-lucky on the outside; tortured by obsessive, self-destructive voices on the inside. Immersed in an environment in which even talent is secondary to appearance, Gleissner hides her disorder by any means necessary—lying, cheating, and stealing with no regard for the consequences of her actions—until she hits rock bottom and is forced to face the truths behind her disease. Her intensive odyssey of self-discovery ultimately gives her the strength to reshape her self-image, embrace her sexuality, and break free of the malignant hold bulimia has on her life.The first book to give voice to the pervasive but often unaddressed problem of eating disorders in the dance industry, Something Spectacular is a gripping exposé of the insidious nature of eating-related diseases—and a profound account of one woman’s journey toward self-acceptance and recovery.

The Brain over Binge Recovery Guide: A Simple and Personalized Plan for Ending Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorder


Kathryn Hansen - 2016
    In this sequel and companion volume, with the help of fellow specialists and authors Amy Johnson, Ph.D., Katherine Thomson, Ph.D., and others, Kathryn Hansen lays out those same principles—and many more—in a self-help format that encourages and enables binge eaters to recover efficiently and effectively. Although recovery is not the same for everyone, this book posits that there are only two essential goals that must be met to end bulimia and binge eating disorder: (1) learning to dismiss urges to binge and (2) learning to eat adequately. As you work toward these goals with a streamlined focus, you will discover your own strength, develop your own insights, and put into practice ideas and behaviors that work uniquely and authentically for you. The Brain over Binge Recovery Guide is comprehensive in its length and scope, but utterly simple in its approach: You will read and use only what you need—continuing on in the book if you feel you need more information and guidance; putting it down and moving on with your life when you feel you’re ready—so that you can start living binge-free as quickly and easily as possible.

Size Zero: My Life as a Disappearing Model


Victoire Dauxerre - 2017
    Food was now her enemy, and soon, living on only three apples a day and Diet Coke galore, Victoire became anorexic.An unflinching, painful expose of the uglier face of fashion, her testimony is a shocking example of how our culture’s mechanisms of anorexia and bulimia can push a young woman to the point of suicide. It is the story of a survivor whose fight against poisonous illness and body image shows us how to take courage and embrace life.Written with Valérie Péronnet.

A Beginner's Guide to Being Mental: From Anxiety to Zero F**ks Given


Natasha Devon - 2018
    Here, Natasha calls upon experts in the fields of psychology, neuroscience and anthropology to debunk and demystify the full spectrum of mental health. From A (Anxiety) to Z (Zero F**ks Given – or the art of having high self-esteem) via everything from body image and gender to differentiating ‘sadness’ from ‘depression’.Statistically, one in three of us will experience symptoms of a mental illness during our lifetimes. Yet all of us have a brain, and so we ALL have mental health – regardless of age, sexuality, race or background. The past few years have seen an explosion in awareness, yet it seems there is still widespread confusion. A Beginner's Guide to Being Mental is for anyone who wants to have this essential conversation, written as only Natasha - with her combination of expertise, personal experience and humour - knows how.

Unbreakable: How I Turned My Depression and Anxiety into Motivation and You Can Too


Jay Glazer - 2022
    

Perfect


Natasha Friend - 2004
    Isabelle describes the scene at school with bemused accuracy--the self-important (but really not bad) English teacher, the boy that is constantly fixated on Ashley Barnum, the prettiest girl in class, and the dynamics of the lunchroom, where tables are turf in a all-eyes-open awareness of everybody's relative social position.But everything is not normal, really. Since the dealth of her father, Isabelle's family has only functioned on the surface. Her mother, who used to take care of herself, now wears only lumpy, ill-fitting clothes, cries all night, and has taken every picture of her dead husband and put them under her bed. Isabelle tries to make light of this, but the underlying tension is expressed in overeating and then binging. As the novel opens, Isabelle's little sister, April, has told their mother about Isabelle's problem. Isabelle is enrolled in group therapy. Who should show up there, too, but Ashley Barnum, the prettiest, most together girl in class.

Skin Game


Caroline Kettlewell - 1999
    Skin Game employs clear language and candid reflection to grant general readers as well as students an uncensored profile of a complex and unsettling disorder. "[This] mesmeric memoir examines the obsession with cutting that is believed to afflict somewhere around two million Americans, nearly all of them female," Francine Prose noted in Elle. "[Kettlewell's] language soars and its intensity deepens whenever she is recalling the lost joys and the thrilling sensation of sharp steel against her tender skin."

The Better Brain: Overcome Anxiety, Combat Depression, and Reduce ADHD and Stress with Nutrition


Bonnie Kaplan - 2021
    A paradigm-shifting approach to treating mental disorders like anxiety, depression, and ADHD with food and nutrients, by two leading scientists who share their original, groundbreaking research with readers everywhere for the first time, explaining why nutrients improve brain health, and how to use them.